Remembering Reality
by Kenzie493
Summary: 3rd Impact comes and takes Hikari away from her family and friends. She searches for ages for him. When she finds Touji, will she stay with him forever in this equilibrium or will she return to her harsh reality?


**This came to me late late at night, and most of it was written in that hazy state between reality and dreams. This is a short little oneshot (for now) starring Hikari. Takes place in EOE, at that point of third impact. Hope you like, and feel free to review and critique.**

It was certainly not as though Hikari had been awaiting Third Impact. Rather, she had been doing anything but complacently accepting her ultimate doom. As if she knew something was wrong, Hikari had been aflutter with worry and anxiousness since they had left Tokyo-3. She had kept her sisters up night after night, tossing and turning in their shared bed. Suffice to say, Hikari had her suspicions that something was amiss. Her body would not be reacting this way if there wasn't.

It wasn't until she saw him, on her daily walk around the neighborhood, that she realized this. Touji. Last time she had seen him, he was a few limbs less. Yet he stood before her wonderfully whole.

She had cried out to him, and he had turned to her, surprised, but smiling softly into her eyes. "Hikari."

He came to meet her halfway in a crushing embrace. And as he held her in his arms, as she stared up at him in wonderment, he leaned down and kissed her delicately.

And that was it. That last moment of ecstasy before the end. She knew not what happened to end this encounter; all Hikari was aware of when she regained consciousness was that she was unclothed and alone in a fathomless haze. This was not her new neighborhood, nor her old one.

As Hikari modestly covered her parts, she was surprised to find that clothes appeared on her body as soon as she wished for it. What was this strange place? Where was Touji? She was certain he had been there with her, in that last second.

Was she dead? The thought came to her as if through layers of grogginess. No, Hikari mused; after all, she had done nothing dangerous in her life. Never once in her memory had she taken a real risk, let go of the reins, and let life take over. How could she, a young, healthy girl, be dead then? So with this she decided there was no way she was properly dead. It must be something else entirely.

Soon she had grown bored of this waiting for something to happen, sitting there alone and somehow exhausted. She lay down and slept.

Hikari spent what she thought was at least a week in this fashion. She did not know for sure if it was days or even simply hours that she spent in this equilibrium, waiting. But she only became more bored and more exhausted the more she slept. She could hardly remember who she was, where she came from, the names of her family, her friends. But she knew she could not sleep any longer. Soon she took to walking.

Hikari walked forever. She kept walking, and walking. It had to have been years floating by, and yet she never grew quite exactly weary; rather, she became more alert and in-tune with her surroundings.

As she became more aware, she started to notice that there were people there. Primarily alone, they were generally caught up in some introspection or other solitary activity. She recognized none of them, and stopped for no one. There was something she was looking for, but her memory failed her after all this time.

Growing more and more aware, Hikari finally realized what she was looking for after what she figured had to be a century of simply walking. It was him. She remembered seeing him at the last moment, having been enveloped in his arms, and then the nothingness. She thought, perhaps this memory was a figment of her imagination? Regardless of the truth, she had a mission. She had to find him. Touji.

She walked briskly for a long time, firm in her resolve. As she walked, she finally thought. Thinking about him, something she hadn't done in an eternity, left her heart beating almost painfully in her chest and her cheeks a stinging scarlet. Where was he? Was he okay? Did he miss her? Remember her? Was his injury alright? Was he healed by now? Had he reunited with his sister? Was he even here?

Hikari almost passed by him when she chanced upon his alcove in the fog. She had seen so many people, as her resolve grew stronger and her focus stopped wavering, that when her eyes glanced over the boy playing basketball she only thought of the familiarity of the action and kept walking. A few steps later, she backtracked. She knew that dunk, that tracksuit, that hair, that gait. It was him. It was Touji.

Hikari stood awhile in wonder. Here was the boy she had been looking for. All the questions she wanted to ask flew out her head as she watched. All she could think was his name. Touji. Touji. "Touji."

The basketball fell on the ground and bounced away, into the haze. "Hikari?" A voice rusty from lack of use asked as he stared after the ball. Then, turning around, he confirmed his suspicions. "Hikari."

"...It's you." Hikari said, trying to confirm this to herself. "Right?"

"Yeah. At least, I think so."

"How can you only 'think so'?" Hikari asked, in a bossy way.

"Well, I don't rightly know what's happening. This could all be a dream. I might not even exist."

"But you can feel things here. It must be real!" Hikari insisted.

"Look, I don't want to fight with you about this, not now. It's been so long, and I haven't seen anyone in forever. Let's just enjoy ourselves." Touji said complacently.

They sat in silence for a moment that stretched on and on. "Touji."

"Hikari?"

"...You were there." Hikari began. It was so long ago, but as she had walked, all she could replay in her head was this. "Before...Well, I saw you."

"Before...this?"

"Yeah."

He seemed to ponder something, then shook his head. "You were with me. In the hospital."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, they stoped drugging me awhile before that, so I knew it was you when I woke up."

Hikari looked down at her hands. She didn't want to talk about his injury. Here he was, completely whole, and she was damned if she was going to let that injury from the past ruin this. "That's weird, seeing as I moved out of Tokyo-3 and all...."

They sat in silence a while longer. "You...handed me a bento." Touji said, looking down. Hikari stared at him in surprise. She leaned over, trying to meet his eyes. "And then..." he didn't continue.

Hikari waited, but when she realized he was done, she leaned back in her seat, her hands on her knees, and sighed. "Yeah. I was on a walk, and there you were. You...hugged me. And then it was over, and you were gone."

Touji's head snapped around at this, to look at her. She avoided his eyes for a second, and then, realizing how much she had hated it when he did that to her, turned and met his eyes nervously. "...Same here." he whispered to her, also nervous.

They spent days together, just sitting, playing games and talking about everything and anything. There was no purpose to their conversations, nor to their menial arguments. Nothing mattered anymore, but at least they were together. Though there were no nights, just haze 24/7, they were looking up into the orangey sky together when Hikari started thinking about that moment before it all was over, once more.

She had shoved it out of her mind as a mystery since their discussion. She hadn't thought about it at all, seeing as she was so relaxed and just enjoyed their time together. Hikari knew, eventually they had to return to reality, where he was physically crippled and she was bossy and depressed. It was a harsh reality, but she missed it, wanted it back. But before she could tackle that problem, she wanted to understand how they had both been with eachother before the end. Suddenly, she remembered the embrace he had wrapped her in, and... the kiss he had laid on her lips. She raised her hand to her mouth, sighing.

Touji looked over from his spot on the ground next to her, to find Hikari daydreaming something. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she turned her body to look at him. Finding his eyes on her already, she smiled, bringing her body closer to his, as if to keep warm. "Do you remember?" She murmered. "Before?"

"Yes?" Touji half asked, half replied.

"When you...?"

"When I what?"

Hikari grew frustrated. How could she convey what she meant without having to say it out loud? She definitely did not want to say it. "Well... When you..." Suddenly, inspiration hit, and she leaned in closer, lightly touching her mouth to his.

After a while of staring, he responded, sounding choked with emotion. "Yeah. I remember."

It no longer mattered to Hikari that it was impossible for her to have been with him in the hospital, and for him to have been with her in her new neighborhood, with all his limbs intact. It was illogical, certainly, but she knew somehow that it wasn't important. All that mattered was the fact that she now knew it was mutual. Mutual.

"Wow..." She couldn't help but sigh. She liked Touji, and she knew he liked her too. She felt him reach for her and she responded in kind. They lay intwined for hours like that, kissing sometimes, sometimes just talking about nothing.

Eventually, Hikari remebered reality. Her sisters, her father. Her school, her friends, Asuka, Shinji, Kensuke, even Rei. She remebered what it felt like to lie in grass, instead of this hazy cloud of nothingness. How it felt to cook for someone she loved. She couldn't stay here any longer. It wasn't reality. She needed to go back.

"Touji." He looked up at her as she extracted herself from his limbs, feeling remorse that she may never see him whole again. "Someday, I'm going to cook you a full course meal and you're going to eat every bite." she smiled down at him, cupping his face in her hand. "I love you, you know."

He reached up to touch her hand on his face. "Yeah, I know."

"I have to go now. But you better remember this; better remember me, Suzuhara!"

He looked into her eyes for what might have been the last time. But he knew, that they would meet again, eventually; knew that this wasn't over, it could never be. "I'll remember. I promise."


End file.
